Shoplifting, employee theft produce staggering statistics

Oct 24, 2003 12:00 PM

More than $4.7 billion was lost to shoplifting and employee theft in just 25 U.S. retail companies in 2002, with only 2.43 percent of those losses resulting in a recovery, according to the Fifteenth (15th) Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes Intl., a loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm.

In essence, the numbers tell the story. For every one dollar recovered, another $40.08 is lost to retail theft. "The losses are staggering and continue to amaze us," says Hayes Intl.'s Mark R. Doyle. "Both the number of shoplifters apprehended and the dollars recovered from those apprehensions increased for the second year in a row."

"In addition, for the sixth consecutive year, the dollars recovered from shoplifters where no apprehension was made increased significantly over the prior year."

This annual survey reports on over half a million apprehensions taking place in just 25 large retail companies representing 10,243 stores with combined 2002 annual sales in excess of $396 billion.

For more on the report, see the upcoming November issue of Access Control & Security Systems.

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